How an infamous design interview question can help you get clear on your next life goal
One of the most tried and true milestones of any senior-level product designer is how they answer this question: How do you know when a design is done?
This is one of my go-to questions when I interview experienced designers because it goes beyond any one specific project or case study. It gets to the heart of a designer, and how they go about problem-solving. What is their process, philosophy, and how do they drive alignment within a team?
The best designers I’ve worked with can quickly identify that a design is done through a combination of solving for the core business problem, works within technical constraints, and is a simple, intuitive experience when put in front of users. In summary, they are telling me they can consistently scope and deliver, which is what makes any design project successful.
A designer who knows this can thrive in ambiguity, is open-minded about challenges, and remains creative and curious throughout the process. This is someone who can really bring visions to life and make things happen.
Unsurprisingly, this is also a successful approach for anyone who is looking to design their life and successfully turn a life goal into reality. When you can solve for ambiguous problems, you can handle anything you encounter in life.
If you’re ready to make a change in your life but need help establishing how big that change will be and how to feel good about what “done” looks like, then read on.
1. Solve for the right problem
Do you remember learning the scientific method in school? You come up with a hypothesis, a test to answer the hypothesis, and find out if you were right or wrong. You learn from failures and get clarity on what you validate. I follow a similar process in design, and it’s a spin off of The Double Diamond. It’s a four phase process: Discover, Define, Design, and Deliver.
When you’ve come up with a change you want to make in your life, the first step is always to get to the heart of the problem you actually are trying to solve for — even if it’s not the problem you planned to tackle in the first place. This requires curiosity and a beginner’s mind. You may have encountered this in your own life when you’ve gone to the doctor for one symptom, and found out there was another underlying condition that needed treatment. Or you thought you knew why your kid was upset, only to find out that the reason they’ve been crying for two hours was for something completely different.
Seasoned designers know not to take anything at face value and seek to find out “how do I know this is actually the problem I need to solve for?” Even if someone says “this is my problem,” it may not be. As the story goes, Henry Ford approached innovation as “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.” We’re not in the business of faster horses, but rather, creating a vision for a new type of world that meets our true desires. So ask yourself: What problem are you actually trying to solve for in your life right now? Could it be a symptom of another problem? If so, how might you explore different solutions to address it?
2. Design philosophy
Most academic programs, courses, and bootcamps for UX will teach you hard skills and design tools like Sketch and Figma, and how to write scripts for usability testing without asking leading questions. What I rarely hear about, however, is creating values of what the product or service you’re designing for should and should not convey to the end user. What does the “right” solution look and feel like? What qualities are non-starters?
Just as you wouldn’t expect the Disney Plus app to have a bunch of metrics and data dashboards or feel in any way “professional,” or have your banking app be extremely playful and remove any notion of trustworthiness or security, you also need to define your own standards and values to live by to make sure the plans you make for your life are truly the ones you want.
So, as you’re thinking of a change you want to make in your life, can you imagine what success feels like? What qualities would be part of it? For me, a successful 2022 includes deepening my writing practice. This doesn’t mean writing 24/7 or creating unnecessary pressure on myself though. Instead, I want a lot of free time to explore creative ideas, spend adequate time with family, and connect with readers in a way that’s meaningful, delightful, and thoughtful.
3. Driving towards alignment
Similar to having values in your life, you’ll want to be realistic with your current environment, obligations, family and other important people that your life change may impact. This way, you can carve out time and space to prioritize your goal. You’ll want to create a system that sets you up for success whether that’s waking up an hour earlier each morning, blocking off a chunk of time on the weekend, or saying no to some things that are not serving you now. This will help you understand what time you have to actually pursue your life change, and whether you can go all in now or if it makes more sense to spread the changes out over time. Maybe you eventually want to move to the East Coast but the kids are still in school and your partner has a job in the area. It might be unreasonable to move to the East Coast this month, but you can aim to visit in a few months and still go through the motions of researching neighborhoods, jobs, and schools. Then later in the year, start making moves to inquire about schools and companies in the area. The point is you’re still making moves towards your life change, and you’ve set yourself up for a more successful way of getting there.
To wrap this up, if you are planning for a life change and aren’t quite sure how to get there, you might need clarity on your motivation, values, or time and resources. When you understand your “why,” your values, and how to dedicate time and space to the change, you’ll begin to see shifts in your life that drive you towards your next life goal.
Lia Fetterhoff is a product design leader, writer, and creator of Swishie, providing content and community for women of color to thrive doing the work they love. Lia’s passion is exploring the intersection of design and life, amplifying the journeys of women of color, and sharing insights as a mom and woman of color in tech. She lives with her husband and two kids in Roseville, CA.
